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Friday, May 10, 2019

Mazda is Developing Its Own Family of Inline-6 Engines

It looks like Mazda is going to defy convention once again and while they’re at it, they’ll be raising their middle finger to the likes of Toyota. After Toyota resorted to using a BMW engine for its venerable Supra sportscar (because an in-house inline-6 would have been a nightmare to produce), little automaker Mazda has confirmed that they’re making their very own inline-6 engine and get this, it’ll come in both diesel and gasoline flavors.
Confirmed in a presentation accompanying Mazda’s Fiscal Year 2019 March Results, the Hiroshima-based carmaker laid out plans to offer a more expanded line-up with a much higher price variance compared to today. In order achieve that, they’ll be leveraging their KODO design language as well as upgrading their Skyactiv-G and -D, introducing Skyactiv-X, mild hybrid, and independently-developed battery EVs for cars underpinned by their “small architecture” (aka Mazda3, CX-30).

But seemingly out of nowhere, Mazda has confirmed that they’re also working on a “large architecture” and this one will benefit from a family of inline-6 engines, one featuring Skyactiv-X and the other, the second-generation Skyactiv-D. A 48-volt mild hybrid and plug-in hybrid versions are in the works too. Furthermore, this new platform will have a longitudinal engine layout (ala BMW) which could possibility mean a rear-wheel drive vehicle! Though Mazda hasn’t confirmed which vehicles are underpinned by this platform, it’s a safe assumption that the next-generation Mazda6, and likely CX-5 and CX-9 will have access to this.

Mazda hasn’t revealed the exact timing of when the world will see their family of 6 cylinder engines, but given it’s part of their medium-term management policy, it’ll be sometime between 2020 to 2025.